It was a well known fact that Park Jiwon was short.
Well, at least compared, to her other members in Fromis9. It was something her members used against her and ruthlessly teased her about. Especially Jiheon, who always seemed smug that she was taller than her unnie.
And currently, that shortness was not helping her reach the limited edition Matcha Choco Turtle Chips she’d been looking for.
“Fuck this.” She said as she reached for the top shelf. “Come on, just a little higher…”
Behind her, a warm figure appeared behind her. “Need a hand?”
She turned back and saw him, Y/n. Her ex-idol, now manager boyfriend who was unfairly taller than she was.
“Nope. I can do it myself. Thank you very much.”
“All right, all right. I’ll leave you to it then.” He smiled. She tried, she really did. She tried but she couldn’t reach the damn chips. She noticed Y/n smirking slightly and glared at him.
“Shut up. You could be helping me instead of teasing me like my members do.”
“But I thought you could do it yourself?”
“Didn’t I tell you to shut up?”
He put his hands up in mock defeat and walked over to the shelf, reaching up and pulling down two bags of Turtle Chips for her.
“For my short queen”
“Damn right I am.”
He laughed and hooked his arm around hers, walking over to the cashier and ignoring the blush that was forming on her face. He took out his card, held the plastic bag with one hand and holding Jiwon’s hand with the other.
Outside, he looked at her slightly red face and smiled.
“Embarrassed girlfriend?”
“Of course not. I’m used to my boyfriend being a romantic. What’s not to like?”
“But what if told you that I love how you look right now? The scarf I bought you looks really cozy, your hair looks amazing, and your lips look so kissable right now.”
“I-I mmm I-”
“Flustered?”
“Shut up and hold my hand”
“Of course”
They walked in silence for a while. Her thumb traced slow cirlces against his palm, her hand adjusting within his as if it had found the perfect place to rest.
The city buzzed around them, alive with evening traffic and glowing storefront. They walked side by side, hands loosely intertwined, blending into the crowd as best they could. And then she stopped.
He glanced up, following her gaze.
A towering billboard overlooked the intersection. Her face smiled down at the city, dressed in the latest white and blue outfit for their upcoming comeback. The bright lights framed her effortlessly, making her impossible to miss.
She laughed awkwardly. “Uuuuggghhhhh. Why am I up there?”
He smiled. “Beause you look beautiful.”
“You always say that though.”
“And I always say it because it’s true. You think I lie to my girlfriend?”
“Well…there was that one time…”
“And that was for your birthday. I wanted it to be special. In fact, I can count how many times I’ve lied in our relationship on hand. The birthday is one and then there was the surprise birthday in Busan that one time. One for our anniversary and two random surprises because I felt like it.”
She looked up at him and rolled her eyes but she smiled anyway.
The crosswalk counted down, light turning green. They walked in silence through the intersection, Y/n walking on the outside, shielding Jiwon from the cars.
Once they crossed, she looked back at the billboard before turning to him.
“…Do you ever regret it?”
He tilted his head. “Regret what?”
“…Leaving the industry.”
Y/n pondered this for a bit, his eyes drifting back to the billboard. There had been a time he’d dreamed of something similar. A chance for him to stand on a stage and know people had come to hear his group sing.
His group never made it that far.
They came from a tiny company that most people never heard of. Their practice room had peeling wallpaper. Their dorm was far from luxurious. Cramped at times, but they always described it as “cozy”. Every comeback depended on whether the company could scrape together enough money. They worked just as hard as anyone else - hours of dance practice, vocal lessons, variety training, and even fan events with only a handful of attendees.
They weren’t untalented but they were simply overlooked. Every comeback was supposed to be the one. Every comeback disappeared into the endless stream of new debuts. When the company finally announced their disbandment, there wasn’t any scandal. Just an apology to the fans who stayed with them.
He still remembered sitting in the practice room after the announcement.
His CEO - who had spent years fighting to keep them afloat - stood in front of the members with red exhausted eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he’d said, voice shaking. “I wanted to give you a better ending.”
Even the producer broken down into tears. He apologized over and over, blaming himself for not making music people would notice.
No one knew what to say. Because none of them believed it was his fault. Sometimes talent or effort simply wasn’t enough. Sometimes…the world simply didn’t look your way.
He blinked, returning to the present.
“I’d be lying if I said I never think about it,” he admitted. “I sometimes miss performing in front of a crowd. Even if it was 20 people.”
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